An employee of the Gucci store at Bal Harbour Shoppes has been arrest and charged with mulitple crimes, including six counts of grand theft, thirteen counts of fraudulently obtaining receipts, and seven counts of petit theft.
Internal theft, or theft by an employee of a business, is different from retail theft - or shoplifting - insofar as the victim, the business, will likely take it more personally that an employee has committed theft rather than a stranger.
Whereas most retail theft cases can be resolved with Pretrial Intervention, internal theft cases are more tricky to work out because the victim may not be willing to approve the accused's participation in PTI. In Florida, the victim must consent to a defendant's participation in a deferred prosecution program.
Each count of grand theft indicates one fraudulent transaction totaling more than $300. The petit theft counts would indicate fraudulent transactions totaling less than $300 each.
The grand theft counts are all felonies while the fraudulently obtaining receipt counts and petit theft counts are misdemeanors.
Eric Matheny represents clients charged with grand theft and petit theft in Miami-Dade and Broward.